VETERan of the month San Diego - November 2021 By Amber Robinson
Phil Kendro USMC Marine Veteran There are few veterans in this county who are as busy as Marine Veteran Phil Kendro. If you were to ask him why, he’ll give you the best answer. “It’s all to help others, to help my community and to be an example,” said Kendro. Kendro has a big, bad resume and is the perfect vet for this November’s Veteran of the Month. His time in service as a pilot was nothing short of boastful with his post-service work including working with Hollywood’s elite, coordinating San Diego and the country’s largest military events and maybe most importantly, working to bring San Diego’s veterans together in the name of camaraderie, getting a job and beer. After four years as part of ROTC at Pennsylvania State University on a Navy Scholarship, Kendro was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps as a pilot in 1995. During his time as a Marine officer Kendro served all over the world. After some time with a grounded fleet and then as a T34 instructor, Kendro left to serve overseas. In 2003 he deployed with a mixed company of Marines and Sailors to Kuwait, Iraq and took over multiple airfields during the invasion. The following year he returned to Iraq flying Harriers, which are short takeoff attack jets. “We took over four different airfields while we were there, flew missions for a few months and brought everyone home safely,” said Kendro. After Iraq Kendro ended up in Japan in a unique job where he got to teach air traffic controller and foreign air protocol to aviation units from all over the world. “In that job I got to work with Iraqis, the Thai, you name it,” said Kendro. “It was such a privilege to work with and teach people from literally everywhere.”
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WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / NOVEMBER 2021
Kendro served 22 years in the Marines before retiring to San Diego in 2018. During his two decades of service he was lucky enough to spend two tours in sunny Southern California. It was during these times he decided he and his family would live here after retirement. After service, much like many veterans, Kendro stumbled. “I struggled for about four months looking for work,” said Kendro. Kendro also said he felt lost without the daily structure of service. He began to worry how he would provide for his family and pay the bills without work. For Kendro it was a dark time. Luckily, Kendro finally found work, but now he uses that time of struggle as a way to reach out to other veterans who are in that same predicament. Another way Kendro reaches out to other vets is through San Diego’s Veteran Beer Club which he cofounder. “In 2016 myself, Brian and Kevin Cortes began brainstorming ways we could bring vets together to job network among other things,” said Kendro.
